Second Chance Ranch helps troubled men transition into calmer world

Sunday

Curtis McFarland founded Second Chance Ranch, just south of Holland’s city limits at 4351 60th St., two years ago and is expanding his men’s transitional housing program into Pullman.

The notes on the refrigerator make it clear whose turn it is for kitchen duty.

The plaque on the wall makes it clear: “Christ is the head of this house.”

And the signs on the doors make it clear to visitors the house is a residence for men who are homeless, recovering addicts or who have committed crimes from breaking and entering to criminal sexual conduct.

Curtis McFarland founded Second Chance Ranch, just south of Holland’s city limits at 4351 60th St., two years ago and is expanding his men’s transitional housing program into Pullman. He is working to start a similar program for women.

“This life isn’t about us,” he said recently, sitting in the Fillmore Township home’s dining room. “It’s about love in our hearts for the creator and our neighbors.”

Beginnings

McFarland, 55, is the son of a minister and grew up on the east side of the state. He served in the military from 1975-1978. He stayed and worked at the Holland Rescue Mission until he was laid off.

“It’s instilled in my heart to help men,” he said.

He then got a visit from two men on Harley-Davidsons. The motorcyclists were from Building Men for Life, a Holland-based nonprofit that runs recovery housing at 11 sites in Holland for 62 men and one in Holland Township.
Each home has four to eight men who help hold one another accountable and support each other’s efforts in life recovery, according to the group’s Facebook page. The group’s primary purpose is to provide a safe, sober, supportive and affordable living environment for men.

“We started with Curtis, we gave him some of our initial information,” said Randall Brouwer, executive director of Building Men for Life.

After that talk, McFarland knew leading faith-based transitional housing for men was what he wanted to do.

He started the operation in August 2009, hitting some bumps when officials discovered his operation did not fit the zoning in the northwest part of the township near the city limits of Holland.

Board members did not oppose the facility’s mission, but said it was not allowed under the zoning ordinance. Almost a year later, the township approved rules that allow halfway houses in agricultural districts on property that is at least 10 acres.

The facility

Second Chance Ranch is a working farm on more than 20 acres wedged between the U.S. 31 and I-196 split.

McFarland lives in the home with eight men, some of whom were recently released from jail.

The home is under 24-hour supervision. The men are prohibited from having drugs or alcohol. McFarland handles any necessary medication. There is a curfew. No women are allowed in the house. The men must attend Bible study and church. Residents pay rent, share house responsibilities and work on the farm while McFarland helps them find jobs.
They have sold eggs all summer, tending the chickens as well as ducks, turkeys and rabbits. The money raised goes back into the farm.

The operation is not yet a nonprofit, McFarland said, but he is working toward that status.

The residents may stay for up to two years.

“It’s been great here,” said Dave Swoveland, 67, who is up at 4 a.m. every day to drive his housemates to and from work.

“The Bible is a good book for learning good character virtues,” said McFarland, who doesn’t have a degree or formal background in psychology or sociology. “I’m going from life experience.”

Galord King walked in the kitchen after raking leaves. He would be homeless without the facility, he said.

“It’s a good house,” added resident Barry Moore. “It’s a blessing.”

Another facility

McFarland has larger plans ahead for Second Chance Ranch. He would like to hire an on-site manager — “so I’ll be able to take a vacation,” he said.

He opened a second transitional housing unit in Pullman on Sept. 15. The Lee Township site is home to seven men, and he expects it to be full by the end of November.

Placing parolees in Allegan County had been a challenge before the Fillmore Township and Pullman sites opened, said Julie Clark, Allegan County Circuit Court probation and parole supervisor.

“It’s been a great thing for us in the parole and probation system,” Clark said about McFarland’s facilities.

Before Second Chance Ranch opened, the county only used cabins on Blue Star Highway south of Holland for parolees. When those spots were filled, the men were sent to Kalamazoo or Grand Rapids until a spot at the cabins opened.

Since Second Chance Ranch’s Pullman site opened, parolees rarely have been sent outside the county, Clark said.
McFarland also wants to open a transitional home for women. For that, he will need to find the right person to run the house on the same model as Second Chance Ranch.

“It’s going to be a challenge to find a woman who can stay on site,” he said.

Allegan County does not have transitional housing for women on probation or parole.

“There is a need,” Clark said.

McFarland is not afraid of the hard work that comes with his 24/7 position overseeing two houses.

“I’m happy with what I’m doing,” he said. “After all is said and done, and I’m looking in a guy’s eyes, and he looks back, you see he has a demeanor, he belongs. His life has changed. It’s worth it all.”

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